Chapter 2 - He Said, She Said
Love 2.0
"Omo guys! Come here, NOW!" Seri yelled bright and early in the morning causing a huge distress in the dorm thinking that we had a cockraoch back in here again.
"Is it a cockroach ?" Yuna asked, holding two bug sprays in her hands as if they were pistols that she would have brought to a gun fight.
"Ani, look at this article at the top of our school's forum." Seri said, showing us her laptop.
"School's beauty has a scecret suger daddy, exposed?" Eun Ah read the bold title of the article out loud.
The article written in black and white by an unknown blogger in our school with the user name, Dimsum who described a campus beauty in our school who held an inncocent image but has a suger daddy. Apparently he or she caught the school beauty leaving a posh sports car and had taken photos of the scene. The words used in the article were vile and the author mercilessly bashed the girl online, saying that it was a disappointment to know that a fellow school mate would stoop so low and was shameless enough to subject to selling themselves to the likes of older men and at the same time pretend to have a innocent image held in our school. The article published also includede the photos taken, a girl with long brown locks, wearing a innocent white dress carrying a blue converse backpack with her face blurred out was leaving a posh red Ferrari.
"Jae, do you know her?" Eun Ah asked, eyeing me as her eyebrows furrowed.
"No? How do you even recognise someone with her face blocked out?" I replied, feeling outraged that someone would post an article like this. Even if that girl really had a sugar daddy despite having held an innocent image in school, is it necessary to post an article about her online and defame her? This was not only defamation, it was also a invasion of privacy.
"Well I thought you'd know who she is, the backpack she's carrying looks like yours." Eun Ah said, pointing to the photo on the screen. The blue converse backpack.
"It doesn't only looks just like mine, it is mine!" I exclaimed, the article was about me. The hair, the dress it all looks like mine... The only problem was that I don't and never had a sugar daddy.
"What the ? You obviously don't have a sugar daddy Jae Hee... How could Dimsum make up such lies about you?" Yuna asked, with a frustrated tone in her voice.
I rolled my eyes in annoyance, rumours online would forever be spiteful, the things they say there could be true, not entirely true or just straight up fake. But people hardly could tell apart the truth from the lies online, they believe whatever they see and once an opinion is made up in their minds it's hard to change it. The people reading these fake articles online are easily tricked by the skillful and decieving words of the writer, twisting each word and sentence just to destroy other people's reputation. The writer of the vicious article could just hide away, their computer screens as their masks, identity hidden and having too much abuse of the term 'freedom of speech'. In this case, the person hiding behind the mask was Dimsum and I sadly had become a victim, the topic of gossip.
"Could we flag it to bring it down?" Seri asked, feeling concerned that the people in our school might soon find the identity of the '' who was unfortunately me.
"If we flagged it, we're just silently admitting that the article is true and if we were to post a article saying that what's wrtitten there is fake, people might think that I came too quick to defend myself, revealing my identity at the same time." I said, trying to think of a way to calm and presuade the fickle crowd to put trust in me.
"I'm going to find out the identity of this Dimsum guy... I'll look for him and ask him to take down the article. And not just that, I demand an apology!" Sadly, this task is near impossible to complete. I am good at computers but trying to unmask a person with a hidden identity online is not easy work, I'd probably need help from a master hacker. But how could I do it without revealing my identity?
As if hearing my thoughts, Eun Ah spoke out,"Jae ah, my boyfriend is from the Computer Science Faculty, I could get him to help you uncover who Dimsum is. And don't worry, I won't tell him that you're the girl in the photo."
Less than an hour later, Eun Ah's boyfriend texted her saying that he found out Dimsum's real name, Mark Tuan.
"Mark Tuan? Who's that?" I asked in frustration. Just great! I found the name of the guy who slandered me online but I have no idea who the he is.
"Are you kidding me? Mark Tuan, he's a second year senior who's in the same faculty as us. He's really good at languages and really hot at the same time! He's from America and is taking a double degree in journalism and foreign languages, the jewel of our faculty." Seri reported, seeming like a private eye who knew everything about this Mark Tuan person. I stood up immediately and started getting dressed.
"Where are you going?" Yuna asked, feeling concerned about me.
"Going to find this Mark person, it's 3.24 pm right now, if I leave now I should be able to catch him at the journalism building." I said as picked up my backpack and the keys to my bike.
"Ok! Hey remember to get back by 7, the basketball game starts then!" Seri yelled as I gave her a ok sign to signal that I've heard her.
"Get there early and save me a seat!" I yelled back, knowing that the spectator seats would be filled as the god like master, Kim Jong In is playing today.
_
"Mark Tuan?" I called out to the second year senior who had light brown locks of hair. It was surprising, the guy who wrote that malicious article about me looked very attractive and innocent, but didn't they always say to never judge a book by it's cover?
"That's me, and you are?" He asked as he looked at me with a slightly shocked expression but he coughed it away pretending to not get affected by my presence.
"You know exactly who I am." I said with a smirk held high on my face. "You barely know me personally, yet you wrote such horrible things about me online?" I continued, he didn't seem fazed at all. He smirked back.
"It's true isn't it? I was there and there's evidence too, are you saying that the person who came out of that car isn't you?" He retorted, thinking that he's got the upper hand of the situation.
"You saw the car and you saw me, but did you see the driver?" I asked, showing that I wasn't afraid of him. He looked confused for a moment and didn't repond. It's obvious that he only saw the surface of the situation. "The driver was a woman, the mother of the child I'm tutoring." I said as I pulled out a photo from my phone, showing me, the mother and her child whom I was tutoring in front of the car that was allegedly owned by my non-existent sugar daddy.
"This doesn't prove anything, it might be photoshopped. Who knows right?" He retorted, making me roll my eyes. I took a permanent marker from my bag and wrote down an address.
"That address belongs to the child I'm tutoring, he needs an English tutor. I have a session at 4.30 later, you could meet me there if you want the evidence and a well paying job of a English tutor. If you don't show, I'm assuming that you admit that you maligned me." I said with a smirk. "And I'm really disappointed in you Mark sunbae, I expected a journalism student to report the truth that is supported by facts instead of reporting your own opinion, supported by a baseless photo." I said before bowing and leaving.
_
"I thought you wouldn't come." I said, looking at Mark whose face showed that he was doubting himself of his words that he so casually spewed online.
"You said you had evidence to prove me wrong, as a journalism student it is only right that I come to check it out." He said as he followed me into the posh mansion.
The building was stunning, the walls were never bare and had many expensive looking paintings that decorated the hall and the house smelled of roses. But no matter how beautiful the house looked with the paintings, the expensive vases and big fancy gold chandeliers, it reeked of loneliness and sadness. The aura here was depressing and I felt that Mark could sense it too, with his eyebrows furrowing showing how much he disliked the atmosphere in this house. As we walked, the house was silent. The only sounds that we heard were the sounds of our foot steps that echoed through the halls. We then stopped in the middle of the hallway, in front of a door that was plain and similar to all the other wooden doors in the mansion. This door however, looked the saddest and most depressed. I smiled, knowing the little boy who spends his days trapped in there, all alone would be happy to see visitors. I step up to the door and tapped a series of long and short knocks before he opened the door for me, it was our little secret password.
"Jae Hee noona!" Ji Sung exclaimed as he opened the door for me. It revealed a 14 year old boy who was pale due to the lack of exposure to sunlight, he was sitting on his wheelchair with a bright smile on his face and his big doe eyes twinkling as it met mine. But the smile soon changed to a scowl as he met eyes with the unfamiliar face of an intruder, Mark.
"Good evening Ji Sung, this is Mark. He's the English tutor that I was talking about. And Mark, this is Ji Sung the boy you would be tutoring." I introduced as Mark tried to give a small wave to the boy who just plainly ignored him. We entered Ji Sung's room that was huge, the walls hung posters of Legend Of Champion's characters as well as many other characters of other games. His shelves were lined with books, mostly assesment books that he revises in his own time.
"Noona, could you please teach me how to beat this level on Legend Of Champions before we start?" Ji Sung begged with a pout on his face, making him look like a cute little puppy.
"No, today is not computer day remember? And besides, did you even finish the assignment that I handed to you during our previous lesson?" I asked as Ji Sung gave me a sheepish smile, while handing me the assignments that he had completed to examine them.
"Not bad, these questions are quite hard for people your age and you managed to solve them. As a reward, I'll bring you some juice. You could talk to Mark in the mean time, get to know him better while I'm gone." I said, giving a pat on Ji Sung's head before leaving the room.
-Mark POV-
As soon as Jae Hee left the room, the boy's face changed entirely. His smile went to a frown obviously annoyed by the fact that I was here.
"So is that you and Jae Hee?" I asked as I pointed to a photo similar to the one Jae Hee showed me, with the red Ferrari in it.
"Obviously..." He said, rolling his eyes at me with a dry expression on his face.
"The knocking before Jae Hee entered your room, was it morse code?" I asked again, trying to make a conversation.
"You know morse code?" He answered, now feeling more interested to converse with me, I could tell as his eyes glimmered more.
"Of I know morse code." I said with with a smirk, "The meaning that is." I continued with a sheepish smile on my face causing a giggle to erupt from the boy who covered it up with a cough.
"Do you like Jae Hee noona, are you courting her?" He asked, judging me as if he was her father and he was giving judgement to a son-in-law. "You're not good enough for Jae Hee noona." He continued before I could even retort.
"Who's not good enough for me?" Jae Hee asked as she returned with the juice.
"This boy." Ji Sung said with the familiar dry look on his face. "Noona, you should end up with Kim Jong In instead, I saw him on a magazine recently and it turns out he's from the same school as you! He's perfect! Better than him." Ji Sung said as he sneered with distaste at me while taking out the magazine with Kim Jong In's face on it.
"Ji Sung ah... I can't end up with Kim Jong In. He's not just any random boy, he's practically a god and is to be respected not to be touched by a commener like me." Jae Hee said, taking the magazine out of Ji Sung's hands and tracing Kim Jong In's face with her slender fingers.
"Noona, you're not getting any younger you know!" Ji Sung exclaimed, "If you don't get a boyfriend now you'll end up all alone." He continued causing Jae Hee to fluster as her cheeks grew red, inwardly acknowledging the truth of her ending up all alone, she looked cute while doing that. The tutoring session continued and during the entire session, I found that Jae Hee was so much more that what the blogs made her out to be. Instead of a pretty girl who likes playing innocent all the time, she's actually very much a grounded person who stood by her morals, was witty and fiesty, there was more to her than just a pretty face.
The tutoring session came to an end and we both bid good bye to Ji Sung. Before we left Ji Sung voiced out, "Noona, I don't want an English tutor after all." He said with a small voice. Was something wrong with me? The boy doesn't like me?
"Why?" Jae Hee asked, as if she heard my thoughts.
"I don't want to learn English... Besides, you're a language major, can't you teach me English instead?" He asked, giving her puppy eyes and a pout.
"Look Ji Sung, English is a core subject in school, it's a common language that can be used to converse with people from all over the world. I could teach you but Mark speaks better English than me, he's from the US after all." She said as Ji Sung nod in silence, accepting the fact that I was the perfect candidate to tutor him. Even though I defamed her, she still stood up for me. She's kind and forgiving, she's perfect.
As we left the Park estate, Jae Hee suddenly stopped at the front of the gates.
"What's wrong?" I asked, staring at her, ever so curious by her actions.
"Ji Sung's mom is coming home soon, then you'll be able to see her car and it'll prove my innocence." She said as she looked around for the red sports car to show up.
"It's fine, I've already deleted the post." I said, taking out my phone to show her the deleted post from my blog. "Listen, I'm sorry Jae Hee. I shouldn't have maligned you without any real evidence. As a journalism student, I am a disgrace and shouldn't have posted that article without checking the facts." I continued.
"It's alright, I accept your apology." She replied, giving me the cutest smile ever before looking at her watch. "..." She muttered softly.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm going to be late for a basketball game..." She signed as she got on her bicycle.
"Look, it's 6.40 now, You'll never be able to make it back on time on your bike. Let me give you a lift alright? Treat it as part of my apology." I said as I ushered her to my car, opening the door for her and hearing her mutter a 'Thanks' with a familiar cheeky smile of hers.
"So what's up with Ji Sung and his wheelchair?" I asked, trying to make a conversation out of the awkward silence in the car.
"He got into a car accident when he was younger, the accident cost him his legs. He shut himself from the outside world, playing computer games all day. I needed money so I took up the job to be his tutor. He was lonely you know... I managed to help him with his gaming addiction and we're really close now. We play Legends of Champions together sometimes, to take a break from studying." She said as she smiled to herself. As expected, she was helpful like that. A boy that cold grew warm to her because of her infectious warm and bubbly character, I can't help but want to get closer to her.
-Jae Hee POV-
"Thank you for the ride!" I thanked Mark as I ran, trying to make it in time for the game. Mark smiled, waving as he drove off. He's honestly not that bad of a guy after all. As I ran to the court, the court was filled with spectators which was unusual for a inter-faculty match. Half the spectors were girls from other faculties, hoping to be able to see the mysterious and handsome Kim Jong In playing on court. Just the thought of it makes me giddy. He was smart and good looking not to mention polite, there is no girl in the world that wouldn't be attracted to someone like him. I hurry to find my friends, sitting in the front row of the spectators stand.
"It's almost 7 and Jong In sunbae isn't here yet." Seri said sounding worried.
"Calm yourself, I'll ask one of the boys from our faculty if Jong In sunbae would turn up." Eun Ah said, raising her hand to beckon a basketball player from our faculty.
"Is Jong In sunbae playing today?" Yuna asked, only earning a shake of the boy's head indicating that Jong In wouldn't be playing today.
"What the ? The post on the school forum said that he would be playing!" Seri exclaimed in anger, frustrated that our idol wouldn't be showing up today.
"Technically we only said that the match was business versus arts and social science." The basketball player said with a sheepish smile on his face causing us to groan, knowing that we wasted our time coming. "Anyway, if we win the match, could I invite you to eat supper with me Jae Hee?" He asked, blushing and looking like a tomatoe.
"Are you confident in winning?" I asked as he smirked, "Of course." He said confidently.
"Then all the best." I said as he winked at me before leaving, resulting smirks and gagging noises from my girls.
As if the entire court heard our conversation, the specators figured out that Jong In sunbae wouldn't be turning up. People started to leave the court feeling disappointed that he wouldn't be here. And the court became less lively, the basketballers all felt discouraged as you can see on their faces.
"Should we leave?" Seri asked, still feeling cheated by the fact that Jong In sunbae wasn't turning up.
"Let's stay, I mean we could cheer for our faculty right?" I said, wanting to encourage our poor boys. " I mean, just looked at the crowd leaving, we don't want to discourage our boys would we?" I continued as the girls nodded, agreeing with me. As soon as the game started, we got our cheering game on, yelling our hearts out to support our boys. Who knew, it would catch someone's attention.
-Krystal POV-
As soon as the game started, there were girls shouting their guts out supporting their own faculty.
"Who are they?" I asked Victoria as she squinted her eyes to look at the girls at the front row.
"Jae Hee's group of friends I think. Remember the girl who tried to help you at the tech shop?" She asked. Oh yes, the girl whom I beat in the beauty contest!
"She seems sweet." I said while examining her face, she's beautiful. Well, almost as beautiful as me. Her long brown locks were similar to mine except that mine was completely straight and her's had slight beach curls in them. My features were sharper and her's seem softer, making her look cuter than me.
"She's not as sweet as you." Victoria assured me, causing me to smile in acknowledgement.
"Stop it, she tried to help us at the tech shop remember? She's so pretty too." I replied, sounding as humble as I can.
"Help? She's just trying to pretend to help. She's a year below us and from the arts and social science faculty, yet she know's about computers at the same time, obviously she's trying to belittle us by proving that she's smarter than us." Victoria said as she rolled her eye. "And besides, we all know that you're the prettiest in the campus, you won the campus belle competition after all!" She continued while my hair, boosting my confidence.
"Ok well, I don't have that innocent look that she has."
"Innocent? Did you see that post about the campus beauty who has a sugar daddy?" She asked as I nod my head furiously. "Well, that's her! I heard it from Mark myself while we were at the gym together." She continued leaving me shocked. That girl has a sugar daddy? Looks were indeed decieving.
Before I could form any other more opinions of her in my a head a voice behind interrupted my thinking, "Well it's not true, turns out that I was wrong."
"Mark?"
"It's not true, I took the post down so stop talking about her that way." He continued giving us a death glare. "We're all second years so let's be more mature about this alright? Why bullying a first year like her." He said as he gave a disapproving look to us, causing us to flush in embarrasement.
"W-Where's Jong In oppa? I came here just to see him play." I said, trying to change to awkward topic.
"Didn't you hear, you're darling oppa isn't playing today." Mark teased. Damn it, I wanted to see Jong In oppa play today... What how did Mark even know of my feelings towards Jong In oppa?
"The board that you're carry, the one that says 'Fighting Jong In Oppa!' with a million hearts gave it away." Mark teased again, as if hearing the thoughts in my head.
"It's ok Soo Jung, I've already asked his room mate to ask him to come tutor you in accounting. You'll be able to spend more time with him like this." Victoria said as she wiggled her eyebrows, she really is the bestest friend that I could ever have.
-Kim Jong In POV-
"They're all sad that you didn't show up, Jong In O-P-P-A!" Chan Yeol teased as he read the comments of a post made by a random girl on our school's forum about me not turning up for a basketball game. I smirked, knowing that Chan Yeol's tease was nothing but jealousy he felt from my popularity.
"I never said that I was playing today and as my 'fan girls' shouldn't they know about my game schedule." I said, causing an eruption of laughter from my other dorm mates who seem to agree with me on this matter.
"Whatever..." Chan Yeol said as he rolled his eyes in annoyance. "So you said you were getting married yesterday?" He continued while smirking.
"Heehe Jae, she's the bride to be." I said with the brightest smile only earning groans from the boys.
"Marriage in the game isn't really a big deal..." Baek Hyun added with Yi Xing nodding his head furiously in agreement.
"And isn't she rumoured to be a guy playing a girl character? You know you're marrying a guy right?" Yi Xing asked.
"She isn't a guy, I've met her before." I said earning gasps from the boys, shocked to find out that I knew the identity of Heehe Jae, "Just kidding~" I continued, pretending to brush it off as a joke.
"Jokes aside, according to this article online, the campus belle and the beauty of the arts and social science faculty were here to watch the game thinking that Kim Jong In and his group of friends would be at the game." Chan Yeol said as he smiled. Jae Hee was there? And she came to watch me?
"Are you sure that the article included the part 'his group of friends' ?" I asked, questioning the truth of the article.
"Well, it might or might not be there." He replied, flusterred. "But I am positive that Jae Hee was there to see me." He continued, sighing in bliss.
"Or she might just be there to support her own faculty?" Baek Hyun added, causing Chan Yeol to groan inwardly, destroying his fantasy that Jae Hee was there to see him. The dorm once again erupted in laughter, Chan Yeol's obsession with Jae Hee was weird and hilarious.
"I swear she came for me! Everytime she sees me, she blushes and she calls me Chan Yeol oppa!" He exclaimed trying to prove his point.
"She probably blushed because she was looking at our dear Jong In here, just like any other girl would." Yi Xing stated, causing Chan Yeol's self confidence to drop even more. "And she didn't actually call you oppa, if I recall she said 'Chan Yeol oppa? I'm sorry, I'd rather call you sunbae-nim' and she said that she barely even knew you, you creep!" Yi Xing continued, ultimately breaking Chan Yeol's heart. Who knew that my girl would be so savage and feisty? She's definitely my type.
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